On the evening of May 16, Presidential Office Spokesperson Li Jia-Fei (李佳霏) stated that the ROC government categorically refuses to accept the response made earlier in the day by the government of the Philippines, and she said that the 11 sanctions now in place against the Philippines will continue until the response by the Philippine government fully meets the four demands of the ROC. The ROC put forward the demands on May 11 following the killing of a Taiwanese fisherman by a Philippine government vessel.
With respect to remarks issued by the Presidential Office of the Philippines, Spokesperson Li stated, they are "untrue and totally unacceptable." She commented that by spraying automatic weapons fire at an unarmed and unprovoking Taiwanese fishing boat, and killing a Taiwanese fisherman, the Philippine government vessel had committed a flagrantly illegal use of armed force that clearly was not an "unintentional act" as claimed by the Philippines. Li stated that the incident took place within the overlapping economic zones of Taiwan and the Philippines, and therefore, regardless whether the Philippine government vessel was engaging in a law enforcement action, the attack was unjustified and illegal under the principles of general international law as well as the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Li remarked that the ROC refuses to accept this outrageous killing of a Taiwanese fisherman, and that the actions of the Philippines cannot be tolerated by civilized nations.
Spokesperson Li reiterated that the ROC government expects the government of the Philippines to offer a formal apology, to provide compensation for the losses, to promptly and thoroughly investigate the incident and severely punish those responsible for the killing, and to initiate fishery agreement negotiations between the two countries as soon as possible. These four demands, she said, are entirely in accordance with the standards of international law.